In order to keep things all in one place here I decided I would do one thread with all I am doing to my truck.
First a little background and reason for my sudden motivation. I bought Ole Blue the day she hit the lot, in fact my salesman called me when the transport truck pulled in and I said I will be there soon. It was the first 2005 this dealer got and no one else even got to look at it, thatīs how quick I bought it.

She is a 2005 Quad Cab SLT in Patriot blue with the 4.7L V8. I have been very happy with the truck and she has treated me well, but here lately I have been looking a new trucks and modern technology and I sort of got the fever for a new ride. The one thing holding me back is the fact that you canīt find a mid size truck with a V8, and I donīt need a full size, honestly, I donīt need a V8, but hey, its fun to drive.

Anyway, I have been motivated to make some upgrades and changes to Ole Blue, and have some ideas for the future and would like some feedback on some of my ideas.

The week I bought it I did a spray in bed liner, and as soon as parts were availble I got the vent visors. It didnīt come with tow package, so I had a hitch and wiring installed, all I pull is a 4x8 utility trailer with my bike and atv.

Recently added toolbox, I installed new seat covers, aftermarket radio with blue-tooth, back-up camera, usb input, dvd player. I did the gutter guard grille with a hint of plasti dip, and I experimented with some plasti dip on my radio bezel.

In the future I would like to experiment with making some bed stripes or some sort of markings on the bed with plasti-dip, maybe either dipping the bumpers to get rid of the chrome or getting them painted blue. I am really interested in adding a hood scoop(non-functional, just decoration), a led brake light bar for the tailgate, some led lights for daytime running lights. I would like to find a way to get some mirrors with turn signals in the mirror housing (my wifes 2015 rav4 has this and its a nice safety feature), and something that may never happen but I would like to get,is change the ignition to a push button start.
If anyone has any input, good or bad, or any other ideas feel free to speak up, I can take it.

And I konw, this thread is worthless without pics, so here we go. In the future, any changes I make I will add to this thread.




Ole blue and my other project.



Not a great pic, but plasti dip radio bezel



gutter guard with some plasti dip on cross bars and emblem



Seat covers getting installed.

 

I'm right there with you on keeping the Dakota. I'm planning on doing some of the stuff you have. Got a new stereo sitting on the shelf, just no time. Maybe life will give me a break soon.

On that push button start, I have that in my car. It's really a PITA. Over and over I turn the key wondering why it doesn't start. Doing something one way for the majority of your life makes a habit. Then when I have anything done at a shop they call me because it won't start. I did mount the button where it's not easily seen though.

I like the bed stripe idea, I had found a few sets on ebay I liked but got shot down by the wife on that lol. She drives it more than I so...

Seems that the most well recieved mod is getting a lower geared diff.

 

I did the plastidip on both front and rear bumpers, i think its a great mod for cheap and worst case scenario if you don't like it you can always just peal it off. I've though about the bed stripe idea as well, there are a bunch on ebay and amazon and there are also a few sites where you can design a custom one. keep us updated!

 

Got the turtle wax headlight restoration kit from Wal-Mart for 8 dollars. It definitely helped my lights. I was kind of hoping it didnīt do much so I could justify some new spyder headlights, but I can live with this for now.
Anyway, here is a before and after pic.



Before, 12 years of weathering



After, Turtle wax restoration kit

 

^ that looks a lot better. The paint/body shop told me mine would be yellow again within 6 months depending on sun exposure. Been 3 months and mine are still clear.

 

O.k., I am not sure how I feel about this, but I was bored and had some plasti dip left over. I just did this one fender lip for now and will think about if for a day or two. I just followed the body line with tape and went to spraying. Its a subtle hint of something different but it does break up all the blue. If I don't like it tomorrow I will peel it off(the beauty of plasti dip ) Please excuse the dirty truck, its been raining the past week and I haven't washed her yet.

 

I always liked that patriot blue color on the Dakota's. I'm thinking about doing a few things on mine like tinting the windshield and front side windows, which might be something you could do too. I'd recommend you leave the front chrome on the bumper. I think that was an added option and not common. As for the mirrors with turn signals, I remember that Mopar had tow mirrors available for this gen Dakota that were similar to the ones on the full size Ram. They are really hard to find now and somewhat of a rare item. Last one I saw on Ebay sold for probably $300-400 for the set.

 

I have an idea on the mirrors but some other priorities came up so funds are distributed elsewhere. I am thinking plasti dip on the bumpers to do something different for a while then I can peel it off when I want to go back to chrome. I haven't thought about tinting the windows or windshield, I may look into this also. My state has some crazy tint restrictions, I will have to see what they are.

 

O.k., today I got an OBD2 blue-tooth adapter and downloaded the Torque Pro App on my tablet. I played around with it for a bit, and it seems like a great app. I am now thinking of a way to mount my tablet that looks clean, but still within view while driving. I am also going to try a few Nav apps that say they work without using data. If those work out then I will have Nav on my tablet as well as all the engine run data. My radio with back-up camera is still working great. I am impressed with it considering where it came from.

I am still thinking about a hood scoop and I am still working on turn signal in the mirror ideas.

 

Well, I got the headlights installed. Spec-D lights with halo rings. Overall satisfied. The final fit is not perfect, but I was prepared for that. I will have to wait for after dark to get a full review of the light output. I will update with a nighttime experience. But, here are some daytime pics. I am happy with the look, now I need to go ahead and completely plastidip the grille surround, and maybe the front bumper.

So, after dark thoughts. Light output is better than expected. I need to fine tune the adjustment, but I am impressed. To be honest I was prepared to be putting the stock lights back in, but I am happy with this purchase.